This invention relates to the creation of a nutritious fruit juice drink made only of strawberries, but having the general pulpy texture of orange juice. The new drink is lower in calories and lower in carbohydrates than orange juice, yet still retains all of the nutritive and flavor characteristics of strawberries.
Although strawberry is among the most popular and most widely used flavors for beverages and food, there is no highly nutritious fruit juice which is made up entirely of strawberries. It is very common to use strawberry flavor in conjunction with other flavors to produce fruit juices, both clear and full-bodied with pulp, shelf stable and fresh refrigerated. Strawberry is very popular as a component of the “healthy” category of premium juice blends now on the market.
There are a few strawberry juice drinks in the marketplace but they are generally highly sugared and with a relatively low percentage of real strawberry juice. These drinks are syrupy, too sweet to be called refreshing, and are high in calories and carbohydrates. These drinks are generally in the “nectar” category.
Orange juice is far and away the most widely consumed fruit juice in the U.S. It is refreshing, nutritious, has “body” in the form of pulp and has a sweet appealing taste. Orange juice measures typically between 11°–12° Brix without enhancement. The natural sweetness of orange juice is clearly an important factor in its popularity. On the other hand, the natural sweetness of orange juice carries with it a high sugar content that in turn means relatively high calories and high carbohydrates.
The present invention provides for the first time a nutritious, full bodied, refreshing and pleasant tasting strawberry juice product wherein the strawberry juice is not blended with other flavors such as banana, mango, kiwi or a variety of other flavors which have heretofore been blended with strawberry. For the first time, a strawberry juice product will be available in the refrigerated section of markets wherein the taste is pure strawberry. The product will be cost competitive with premium fruit juices, as nutritious as orange juice, while having less than half the calories and carbohydrates of orange juice.
The purpose of the present invention is to produce a nutritious strawberry juice drink having a sufficiently sweet and refreshing taste to compete with orange juice as a breakfast drink. Approximately three billion dollars of orange juice is consumed by U.S. citizens annually. Another significant fact is that U.S. citizens annually consume more fruit juice than they do fresh fruit (excluding bananas), but that strawberries, which are among the most popular fruits, have never been juiced in commercial marketable quantities. The present invention provides for the first time a strawberry juice drink having a taste approximately as sweet as orange juice and being equally refreshing as orange juice, but with 60% less calories and carbohydrates.
Strawberries have inherent characteristics which complicate the production of a drink made solely from them. Although strawberries rank high in nutritional content, fresh strawberries that are simply pureed in a blender produce a puree that is too viscous, too tart and not sweet enough to the average taste. Whereas fresh squeezed orange juice would typically render a Brix level of 11.5°, straight strawberry puree would have a Brix level range of only 7° to 9°, would be very tart, and would be much too thick to drink. The strawberry puree also contains considerable undesirable elements such as seeds and other fibers which do not contribute favorably to the taste. Additionally, the cost of a strawberry puree is significantly more expensive than fresh squeezed orange juice.
The present invention achieves a strawberry juice drink that has appropriate viscosity, sweetness, nutrition and a sufficiently refreshingly taste to compete directly with orange juice as a breakfast beverage. The present invention is competitive costwise with premium fruit juices.
A primary object of this invention is to create a juice drink using only strawberries as a base while maximizing the nutritive value and minimizing the calories and carbohydrates.
A further object is to create a competitive juice drink for the breakfast juice market, which is presently thoroughly dominated by orange juice.
Another object is to create a method for making a strawberry based juice drink which results in a pleasant tasting, satisfying, refreshing, nutritious and low calorie drink.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and drawings wherein: